In 2015, Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) will open a new development in Melrose called the
Bronx Commons.
Melrose, which is located in the nation’s poorest congressional district, has a high poverty rate and a young population. More than 1 out of 3 Melrose residents are under 19 years old and according to
the NYC Department of City Planning, almost 2 out of 3 receive some income
support.
Additionally, there are high
crime rates and very few recreation centers and places that sell healthy food.
According to WHEDco’s website, the Bronx Commons will be a
“361,600 square foot mixed-use development which includes affordable housing;
the
Bronx
Music Heritage Center, a community performance and event space; a rooftop
urban farm including a hydroponic greenhouse; a grocer offering healthy food
options; and green recreational space.”
The Bronx Commons will be a welcome site for the community. However, WHEDco wants to do more than
just create a building; they want to enhance the entire community. Modeled after their community development work around Intervale Green (2544 Valentine Ave, Bronx, NY 10458), another affordable housing development in the South Bronx, WHEDco is working with
Bronx Health REACH to do a comprehensive needs assessment of Melrose to identify
other resources that the community needs. A needs assessment is a way of asking residents
what types of services and programs their community needs with the goal of incorporating
them into community improvement plans. This needs assessment includes: meetings
with organizations and residents, developing and distributing a survey,
analyzing and sharing the findings with the community, and working with community residents and organizations to develop and implement projects that improve the health and wellness of the community.
We met with 10 organizations this summer, including
FEGs, the Bronx Defenders, Montefiore, and Bronx Community 3. In late September/early October, we organized community
meetings at three locations: the Classic
Center at the Melrose Houses, DreamYard Project, and SoBRO. The meetings focused on 8 different themes,
including: crime and safety, youth programs, adult education, jobs, and
re-entry programs, health (food access and green space), culture
and business. The meetings provided a
space for community members to talk about what they felt were the major issues in
their community and share ideas about how to fix them. Below is a summary of the some of what we
heard.
Crime and Safety:
There is a spiraling effect around crime and safety. There are not enough activities for youth, so
they turn to crime as an alternative. When there is violence, people begin closing facilities to make the community
safer. However, these areas could be
used to run programs or simply offer a safe space for adolescents to congregate. When these spaces close, more teens are
unable to access these resources and end up following their peers “down the
rabbit hole”.
The stories told by the attendees were tough to hear. Children as young as 12 are wielding guns, shootings
happening just as schools are letting out, abandoned basket ball courts because
shootouts are expected there; and the reports of police responsiveness
were just as bad. The lack of care many
people perceived by the investigating officers was depressing. It makes one feel
as though the police have given up on the neighborhood.
Youth Programs:
After school programs are great, but what happens when kids age-out?
Youth aging out of programs at 16 means that
they have more free time to engage in “bad” activities.
Creating new opportunities to engage teens is
important in ensuring that they stay out of trouble and encourages healthy
development. For example, setting up an apprenticeship program where adults
with marketable skills and professional experience can mentor and train youth
would be ideal for skills development, providing teens with hands-on training in
areas in which they are interested.
Additionally, providing programs for teens to learn more about safe sex, preventing abuse, and leadership skills will foster a generation of healthy, motivated
and responsible
youth with the ability to change their
own lives as well as their community.
However, there is a lot that stands in the ways of these
programs. Lack of funding means there is
no way to buy equipment and the lack of space means there is nowhere to house
the programs. Many spaces that could be
utilized are closed due to criminal activity, a consequence of unengaged youth. Remember that spiral I mentioned
earlier?!
Adult Education, Jobs
and Re-Entry Programs: Adult education is vital to employment, but with a
busy schedule and ever changing financial and social landscapes, many people
cannot dedicate themselves to fulltime classes.
Thus, it is important that these opportunities are flexible enough to
accommodate the ever-changing needs of the students. Job trainings should be offered
for individuals to acquire new skills that will open doors to higher paying,
living wage jobs. Job recruitment centers, like Workforce 1, should open up a
new location so that more people can access these resources. Along with this, job fairs should be provided
for individuals seeking employment.
In addition to jobs, re-entry programs need to be updated in
the Melrose area. Helping individuals
find jobs and stay clean and sober is essential to preventing recidivism. Without these services, individuals often
turn to crime as a means for survival. Having mentoring and counseling programs
located in easily accessible places, such as in housing units, is essential to
aiding re-entering individuals to stay out of the criminal justice system.
Health (Food access
and Green Space): Fresh produce is so hard to come by that one person referred
to the area as a “Health Food Desert.” The
attendees called for more locations selling fruits and vegetables such as Green
Carts and restaurant offering healthier options, like Chopped, a chain restaurant in Manhattan that sells affordable
salads.
Along with fruits and vegetables being difficult to find,
the prices for these items is also higher than in other areas. Grocery stores
should be encouraged and incentivized to not only offer fresh produce, but to price
it fairly so that it is both accessible and affordable.
Green places, not empty spaces – parks, playgrounds, athletic
fields, community gardens and the like need to be established to offer residents
a chance to smell the roses, literally. Attendees
also called for educational programs to be run throughout these establishments
to teach youth and adults about the world around them. Most importantly, these
places need to be OPEN to the public so that they can be enjoyed by all, not just one particular group!
Culture and Business:
Attendees noted that establishments dedicated to cultural expression are
few and far between. In fact, three
community centers have closed in the area, reducing the availability of
activities such as open mikes, poetry readings, performance spaces, etc. While
residents noted that the DreamYard Project was a great asset, they spoke of the
need for more of these programs. Additionally,
programming aimed at engaging adults and developmentally disabled population
needs to be created.
In respect to businesses, the Melrose area has a ‘money leakage’
problem. With the lack of “Big Box” stores
in the areas, such as the Gap, Old Navy, etc. many residents prefer to travel
to Manhattan to shop. This means that
the businesses in Melrose are missing much of those consumer dollars. One remedy is to bring higher quality, name
brand shopping options to the area and update current businesses to attract
shoppers. In addition, adding
entertainment venues i.e. more movie theatres, book stores, bowling alleys, and
live theatre performance spaces are needed to promote safe options for
recreation and to keep residents spending their hard earned money in their own
community. SoBRO has been trying to do this for a long time, but hasn’t had
much success. They hope through
partnering with WHEDco and other organizations in this effort, the tide will
turn.
Please join the
conversation! Do you have an opinion about what the Melrose community
needs? Look out for our survey or email erodgers@institute2000.org with "Melrose Needs Assessment" as the subject title.
This blog post was
written by Caroline Dunn, a first year student at Silberman School of Social
Work and intern at Bronx Health REACH.
